CLS response to ESRC’s cohort studies review

The UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies welcomes the publication of the Economic and Social Research Council’s review of its investment in cohort studies, published today (10 December 2025).

The review, carried out by ESRC, concludes that the cohort studies remain highly valued by the national and international research community. The recommended actions provide a foundation for a sustainable, long-term investment strategy in CLS cohorts, ensuring that the UK continues to maintain and develop its portfolio of national birth cohort studies, ranging from early years to older life. This cohort series is unique in the world, and as a result of ESRC’s strategy, will remain critical components of the UK’s research data infrastructure in the years to come.

Crucially, the ESRC’s commitment to fund active data collection twice a decade on the longstanding birth cohort studies (1958 National Child Development Study, 1970 British Cohort Study and Millennium Cohort Study) will ensure their ongoing value for life course research on adult life and older age. The commissioning of a new birth cohort, Generation New Era, and the commitment in principle to establishing new cohorts in future is also welcome.

While we acknowledge the financial challenges of maintaining multiple cohorts simultaneously, the proposed 25-year gap between cohorts is significantly longer than would be needed to maintain contemporaneous national cohort data on children. If it were possible to reduce this gap in future, this would better enable effective evidenced-based policy making for children.

We are naturally disappointed by the ESRC’s decision to stop funding active data collection on Next Steps, the only nationally representative cohort study of millennials in England. We are committed to ensuring that Next Steps’ valuable data remains available to the scientific community, and is enhanced by ongoing administrative data linkages, while pursuing other funding strategies for future data collection in Next Steps.

A “prized source of secondary data”

Stakeholders interviewed for the review emphasised the value of the series of cohorts – which are unique in the world – as sources of high-quality data for life course research, with unparalleled potential to support research across generations.

The review recognises the utility of the cohorts in supporting research on a broad range of themes and topics across the life course, and their potential for robust investigation into ESRC priorities of productivity, the home environment, changing family systems and digital life.

The review describes the cohort studies as “prized sources of secondary data” across scientific disciplines in the UK and internationally, with international researchers estimated to make up nearly one in five cohort data users.

Empowering cohort data users

CLS and the cohort studies have benefitted immeasurably from the input of our user community. We are particularly grateful to the many external experts from across the academic, policy, practice and third sectors who contribute to our open scientific consultations about the content of our new data collections, and to our Strategic Advisory Board and Scientific Advisory Networks for helping to shape the scientific vision of the studies. Our training programme engages many new as well as existing users on a wide range of topics and themes related to using the CLS cohorts.

We welcome ESRC’s recommendation to broaden our user engagement even further. We have recently welcomed new Co-Investigators from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland into CLS to strengthen our reach and engagement across the UK. In the coming year, we will be seeking user input into activities across the Centre, including shaping the scientific content of the next data collection in MCS. There will be opportunities to input into CLS’s activities in different ways, and we will be keen to hear from current and prospective users from all experiences levels, disciplines and sectors.

The future of Next Steps, the only nationally representative study of millennials in England

As stated, we are disappointed by the ESRC’s decision to no longer fund active data collection on Next Steps. This cohort, now entering a critical phase of working-age adulthood, is uniquely positioned to support research on productivity, family formation, digital life, the challenges of climate change, and the impact of AI on the labour market. Its diverse sample – particularly strong in ethnic and socioeconomic representation – improves our understanding of how outcomes differ across key demographic groups.

We recognise the widespread public and academic interest in the millennial generation, and how they differ to the generations before and after them. As such, we will continue to support researchers and policymakers to use Next Steps, while also pursuing new funding strategies for future active data collection.

Read the full report

The full report, Review of ESRC’s cohort studies 2024/25: Key findings and ESRC actions, was published on the UK Research and Innovation website in December 2025.

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